Verizon CEO: Buy Out Vodafone, Forget About Alltel (VZ, AT, T, BLS, VOD)

Yesterday's NYT published a great interview with Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg in which he outlined the company's plans in wireless, claiming that the AT&T/BellSouth deal "doesn't change anything for us". Bottom line: buy out Vodafone (not necessarily all at once); forget about Alltel.

His top priority now is to buy the 45 percent of Verizon Wireless held by Vodafone; the stake is worth between $38 billion and $43 billion, according to analysts' estimates. Mr. Seidenberg said he was "a willing buyer" because Verizon would be able to book 100 percent of the profits from Verizon Wireless.

To make the deal, he said in an interview last week that Verizon was willing to buy Vodafone's shares in several chunks rather than in one piece, and even to revise the dividend it pays Vodafone during that process.

But he rejected talk that Verizon might pursue Alltel, the fifth-largest cellphone company, which uses the same technology as Verizon Wireless and covers many parts of the country that Verizon does not. Alltel, he said, would only make Verizon bigger, not necessarily faster-growing.

Mr. Seidenberg's emphasis on growth over size is one way he hopes to differentiate Verizon from AT&T in investors' minds. His wary approach to mergers sets him apart from Mr. Whitacre, who has been an open and aggressive buyer over the past decade.